Trustees address problem at Central

By Bill Vander Weele
Sidney Herald
Published on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 5:48 PM MST

Sidney school trustees agreed during Monday’s building and grounds committee meeting that the heating problems at Central School can no longer be put on the backburner.

The building experienced heating problems during the holidays, and the future of the heating system is a concern. Two years ago, the heating problems at Central were discussed by trustees.

“We’ve put a lot of money into it during the last 18 months,” Sidney Superintendent of Schools Doug Sullivan said of repairs.

Trustees were hopeful of putting in a geothermal heating system at West Side Elementary School, but Sullivan said they might have to reconsider their priorities because of the problems at Central.

“We’re operating at West Side, not that well, but we’re operating,” trustee Todd Hermanson said. “We’re being told it could quit tomorrow here (Central).”

Central houses the school district’s administration offices and pre-school classes. The Boys & Girls Club of Richland County is another activity at the building.

After receiving information from building officials, trustees will consider such options as closing or eliminating the old wing, individually heating each room or doing a geothermal heating system for the newer wing. Sullivan said the old wing is about 80 percent empty and 20 percent is used for storage.

Sullivan said the estimated cost two years ago for a heating system to take care of part of the newer wing and elimiating the old wing was about $400,000-$500,000.

editor@sidneyherald.com

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Comments

The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of the Sidney Herald.

What a Nightmare wrote on Jan 15, 2009 9:29 PM:

" I can't believe anyone would even consider moving all of our students to
Central. The old part is horrible and needs to be torn down. Who would want their child in such a worn down moldy enviroment. Maybe the new part can be used more wisely, but has anyone ever given consideration to putting another wing onto Westside and giving our students a wonderful learning enviroment with all students under one roof. The money spent at SHS has gone overboard. In a town with enrollment declining do we really need such a library. Has anyone even bothered to look at SHS to see how terribly out of porprotion it is. I agree we maybe needed some changes in the library, but it is far more than a library being built there. Do we really needs to remodel all of the offices as well. Stop and think of our younger students and what they need, if we don't give them the best possible start they can have, what will it matter what the high school looks like. Put our students first instead of trying to make SHS into a castle. Who are we trying to impress? "

T.Rex wrote on Jan 15, 2009 2:11 PM:

" Sidney isn't even big enough to justify haveing to elementary schools.Take care of the heating problem at central move all the kids to central,use west side for office space and storage.The fact Sidney has to elementary schools is silly.Sidney has always ben under the allusion that oil fund money will always be and you couldn't be more wrong for thinking this way. "

sidney wrote on Jan 14, 2009 6:25 AM:

" i agree with you "always thinking". west side school is very over crowded. trying to find my daughter in the midst of things after school was a nighmare when she was in kindergarten. i also think that moving a couple grades over to central would be a good idea. with the oil money that the schools are getting, maybe a new heating system should have been higher up on the priority list that getting a new library at the high school. not that they couldn't use a bigger library or anything, but heat around here is a little more important. if they've known about this problem for a while it should have been taken care of sooner instead of being put on the back burner so to speak, especially when there are very young children involved. "

Go Figure wrote on Jan 9, 2009 9:22 AM:

" That price seems alittle steep! Maybe you should get bids from more than one company! When having my house done I saved more then five thousand dollars by shopping around, Id imagine that the figure would be huge on a school building, I think the high school Library could of saved more money too. There is more then one company in and around Sidney that does geo thermal heating,and boilers etc....School board should check into it! "

Always thinking wrote on Jan 8, 2009 4:37 PM:

" The old part of the school needs to be torn down and better use of the remaining part needs to be addressed. Pre-school, kindergarten, and first grade should be moved here or the third, fourth and fifth. The crowding at West side is ridiculous. Once again is the school district trying to use up its funds so it doesn't have to pay the teachers oil fund money bonuses? Teachers are the most important part of an education not where the education takes place. "

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